Marijuana.com

shoeboy69

A friend of mine smoked a joint with his roomate who had never smoked before. he had a negative reaction and INSISTED they go to the ER. Once they got there, the new smoker was fine, but the new smoker informed someone at the ER who gave him the pot. This has made my friend EXTREMELY paranoid about any legal action that could be taken against him by the authorities. I try to convince him there is nothing to worry about. The person informed at the ER was not a police officer and he does not currently have any illigal substances at his home. Is there anything in print that I can show my friend to finally convince him that he will not go to jail? He is in agony these days and hasn't been the same since this occured. Its been about a week now.
thanks!

 

Niteshift

I guess if someone at the hospital decide to tell the cops........and the cops had nothing better to do, it would be possible.

How likely is it? Not very. I can't see any judge signing a warrant based on 3rd party testimony and there is probably an issue of medical confidentiality too.

If he hasn't heard from them by now, I doubt he will.

iMac Bondi Bong

Personally, I would doubt that the medical staff at the hospital would report this person. Let me relate my own experience from several years ago.

I had suffered trauma to my left foot, and a nasty gangrene condition had set in. When I was in the hospital, I received IV units of morphine. I had previously informed my doctor of any drugs I was taking at the time -- except my mj use.

After two days, the increased doses of morphine still didn't have the expected effect. Then, out of the blue, my surgeon came to see me. He said "Gee, the way your body is not responding to the morphine…it's like the reaction we've seen from long-time marijuana users…Have you been taking any other drugs you haven't told us about?"

Apparently, THC can inhibit the proper absortion of morphine into the bloodstream. Of course, I told my doctor about my mj use, and he immediately "stepped back" the morphine doses to keep them from reaching the danger levels.

The moral of the story? ALWAYS be honest with doctors about ANY drugs you are taking. Why? Because they need to know this information to treat you properly. Did I suffer any legal ramifications? Of course not. The doctors' responsibility is to treat a patient, not to question any drug habit on a moral or legal basis.

In the case you described, the medical staff needed to know what drug was causing the reaction to treat it properly. They may have wanted to know if the mj had been laced with other, more dangerous drugs. If the medical staff decided to turn this information over to any law-enforcement authorities, they could possibly face legal repercussions.

Of course, like Dennis Miller always says, that's just my opinion…I could be wrong.

Cheers!
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40 Posts Down, only 260 to go before I can have my own avatar! Cool!

Slate

QUOTE: Originally posted by iMac Bondi Bong,
In the case you described, the medical staff needed to know what drug was causing the reaction to treat it properly. They may have wanted to know if the mj had been laced with other, more dangerous drugs. If the medical staff decided to turn this information over to any law-enforcement authorities, they could possibly face legal repercussions. " End QUOTE.

That's the key right there, (great point Mac).

Shoeboy,
If you want something in writing, you can simply go to the Hospitals Risk Management Unit (they cover all liability issues) and ask about their policies regarding Dr/patient confidentiality. I'm 100% sure they will have something in writing, however you may not be able to obtain a copy unless you are/have been a patient or are with a family member of a patient (either past or present).

Randøm_

"If you want something in writing, you can simply go to the Hospitals Risk Management Unit (they cover all liability issues) and ask about their policies regarding Dr/patient confidentiality."
Blah, I had a really great comment and Slate established it :outs::. Shoeboy, ask your friend if there were any tests done on this newbie, such as urine or blood tests. Any spoken word is merely here-say and not considered evidence. I assume there was nothing signed, as in a statement that the MJ was obtained from x-person who resides at x-address.

Note: tell your friend that this newbie may not be best suited for MJ use. Hypochondriacs and naturally paranoid people aren't likely to benefit from any questionable substance, especially if he/she has such a loose tongue. I love MJ, but I don't feel that it's a good choice for everyone. All substances should be used responsibly and under specific conditions best dtermined by the tallying of pros and cons for each individual.

 

Randøm_

grrr, the smiley face + outs in my last post was supposed to be the word "pouts" inbetween 2 sets of colons!